Hialeah Park Racing and Casino officials announced an "immediate and ongoing expansion" this week that will cost $60 million and be completed by the end of 2015. President John J. Brunetti said plans include expansion and enhancement of the poker room, renovations to the Fountain Terrace outdoor entertainment venue and the eventual addition of 235 slots. Those machines will be installed in the other half of the existing grandstand. Hialeah had remade half of the grandstand in order to open its current area, which houses 839 slots.

Hialeah Park president John Brunetti is changing the plan to add slots at his racetrack. Hialeah Park broke ground last fall for a building to house slot machines, but Brunetti said the expansion is on hold while he waits to see if the Florida Legislature approves destination casinos. If destination casinos win approval, operations like Hialeah Park will almost certainly see the taxes they pay on slots drop to 10 percent from 35 percent, experts at the Florida Gaming Summit said on Tuesday.

The dates' war between Gulfstream Park and Calder Casino & Race Course that has resulted in head-to-head racing for 11 months appears to be coming to an end. Friday, an agreement was reached between Gulfstream and the Florida Horsemen's Benevolent and Protective Association that paves the way for Gulfstream to serve as the primary track operator in South Florida. The agreement must now be approved by the Florida Department of Pari-Mutuel Wagering. As the horsemen hold purse contracts with both tracks, approval by the FHBPA was required in order to enact an agreement previously negotiated between Gulfstream and Calder.

Hialeah Park Racing and Casino officials announced an "immediate and ongoing expansion" this week that will cost $60 million and be completed by the end of 2015. President John J. Brunetti said plans include expansion and enhancement of the poker room, renovations to the Fountain Terrace outdoor entertainment venue and the eventual addition of 235 slots. Those machines will be installed in the other half of the existing grandstand. Hialeah had remade half of the grandstand in order to open its current area, which houses 839 slots.

Hialeah Park is reveling in its rebirth, but the racetrack with the pink flamingos has caused a mess across the state. When its quarter-horse season ends this Sunday, the track that first opened in 1921 will be eligible to house slot machines, thanks to a provision in a 2010 state law. But slot-machine proponents contend that law also applies to other venues, creating a flood of county referendums -- which legislators say illustrate how gambling...

Hialeah Park opens Saturday. There was a time this would have signaled not only the opening of one of the premier thoroughbred race meets in America but also the unofficial start of the South Florida social season. National politicians, show business luminaries and quasi celebrities well known for being well known (think the Kardashians of today) made it a point to see and be seen at what was widely recognized as the world's most beautiful racetrack. Experiencing the splendor of Hialeah for the first time in the late '70s, director Franco Zeffirelli exclaimed, "I must make a movie here.

More than two months after closing its doors, possibly for the final time, Hialeah Park is being accused of leaving a trail of debt from California to New York of approximately $1.5 million. Hialeah Park is so far behind in paying some of its bills that Churchill Downs has filed suit in Miami-Dade County Circuit Court seeking $185,000 it says Hialeah owes it in simulcast fees. "They allegedly have debts all over the place," said Kent Stirling, executive director of the Florida Horsemen's Benevolent & Protective Association.

Hialeah Park has taken the first step in rebuilding its racing office by naming John Morrissey racing secretary. Morrissey, formerly racing secretary at Rockingham Park in Salem, N.H., replaces Frank Gabriel Jr., who resigned last month. Morrissey, a former secretary at Keystone and assistant secretary at Sportsman`s Park and Hawthorne, will bring Doug Reed as his assistant. Reed was Morrissey`s assistant at Rockingham. Morrissey was racing secretary at Rockingham from 1984 until this spring.

Hialeah Park will not die, not when bills are passed and commissions are formed to preserve it. The latest news about troubled Hialeah occurred Friday in Miami when the Heath Commission recommended that the state acquire Hialeah and hold a Saratoga-like winter racing meet. Two questions the Heath Commission did not address, however, are two of the most important. Who will run Hialeah, and where will the millions come from to purchase the landmark? It`s unlikely that the state can come up with approximately $70 million to buy Hialeah.

The Hialeah Park poker room was flush with customers in its first full month, with pretty much a full house. The new poker room outearned its south Broward and Miami-Dade competitors, with $692,417 in September revenue. That's well ahead of nearby Magic City Casino ($491,097) and Casino Miami Jai-Alai ($251,923) and swamps nearby Calder Casino and Race Course in Miami Gardens ($221,375) and Gulfstream Park Racing and Casino ($392,346) and Mardi Gras Casino ($364,082) in Hallandale Beach.

The long and winding resurrection of a South Florida landmark finally transpired Wednesday, as casino gamblers strolled into Hialeah Park for slots, poker and memories. "This is a tribute to what Hialeah Park means to this community," owner John Brunetti Sr. said as he greeted visitors entering the newly opened casino portion of the 220-acre property. Hialeah Park was the premiere horse racing emporium in the United States from the 1920s to the '50s, and those from a generation ago fondly remember the track's grand Mediterranean Revival architecture, the pink flamingos that roamed the massive estate, and its lush tropical grounds with stately palm trees.

Seeking redemption from a Kentucky Derby effort that didn't go as planned, Itsmyluckyday will try to rebound Saturday as one of nine horses in the 138th running of the $1 million Grade I Preakness Stakes at Pimlico Race Course in Baltimore. Trained by Plantation resident Eddie Plesa Jr., the son of Lawyer Ron finished 15th in the Derby on May 4 over a sloppy Churchill Downs track inundated by rain earlier in the afternoon. Plesa said it was evident to him early in the race that the colt was having a difficult time with the sloppy surface.

Hialeah Park opens Saturday. There was a time this would have signaled not only the opening of one of the premier thoroughbred race meets in America but also the unofficial start of the South Florida social season. National politicians, show business luminaries and quasi celebrities well known for being well known (think the Kardashians of today) made it a point to see and be seen at what was widely recognized as the world's most beautiful racetrack. Experiencing the splendor of Hialeah for the first time in the late '70s, director Franco Zeffirelli exclaimed, "I must make a movie here.

Hialeah Park president John Brunetti is changing the plan to add slots at his racetrack. Hialeah Park broke ground last fall for a building to house slot machines, but Brunetti said the expansion is on hold while he waits to see if the Florida Legislature approves destination casinos. If destination casinos win approval, operations like Hialeah Park will almost certainly see the taxes they pay on slots drop to 10 percent from 35 percent, experts at the Florida Gaming Summit said on Tuesday.

The 17th annual Western Union Miami Carnival 2001 will begin the carnival season with a warmup party today at Hialeah Park, 2200 E. Fourth Ave. The party runs from noon to midnight, rain or shine, and features Caribbean culture, steel bands, calypso dancers and wire benders. Headline acts are Traffik from Trinidad and Jam Band from the Virgin Islands. Tickets are $10 in advance and $12 at the door. Children 12 and under are free. For information, call 954-894-8470 or 954-304-2210. The event is a preview for Miami Carnival, Oct. 6 and 7 at Opa-locka Airport.

Posted by Michael Mayo on September 17, 2009 11:48 AM, September 17, 2009

Call me a traditionalist, but the thought of majestic Hialeah Park re-opening its gates to run a 40-day meet for quarter-horses strikes me as heretical. Quarter horses? Those are the barrel-chested sprinters who race 440 yards, not the regal thoroughbreds who aim for the Triple Crown and Breeders? Cup. Quarter-horses are usually found at hardscrabble tracks where tumbleweed blows in the Midwest and West, not Florida. The Miami Herald?s Michael Vasquez reports today that the dormant track, the Grand Dame of American racing, is shooting for a Nov. 28 return.

Hialeah Park president John Brunetti is changing the plan to add slots at his racetrack. Hialeah Park broke ground last fall for a building to house slot machines, but Brunetti said the expansion is on hold while he waits to see if the Florida Legislature approves destination casinos. If destination casinos win approval, operations like Hialeah Park will almost certainly see the taxes they pay on slots drop to 10 percent from 35 percent, experts at the Florida Gaming Summit said on Tuesday.

So, I dove into history the past week, researching and re-telling how we got where we are in Florida gambling today, through the lens of Hialeah Park. I know John Brunetti has his critics, but in this case, my take is that it bugs him that the state law that cleared the way for his track to have slots has had so many repercussions. In some ways, it's the gap for destination casinos, even, now that I think about it. And because space is tight and I wrote a ton anyway, we could go into a whole 'nother drill-down about how these slots plans statewide will hold up. (Everybody from Mike Mayo to Pam Bondi says they won't.)